Olive Morris smiles again on 18 Brixton Hill

Olive Morris’ plaque and photograph have finally been reinstated in Olive Morris House, together with a simple window display facing the street. The window display includes a link to a web page where people can read more about Olive Morris’ life and access our blog for further information. In February 2009 ROC (Remembering Olive Collective) and the Morris family had to resort to write directly to Lambeth Executive Director Derrik Anderson, after council officials failed to respond to continued enquiries about the plaque and the photograph. Both plaque and photograph have been removed well over a year ago, during the refurbishment of the building and its re-branding as Brixton Customer Service Centre.

New window display at 18 Brixton Hill
Photo: ROC (Remembering Olive Collective)

Our letters requested that the Council re-installs the plaque and the photograph in a public area of the building, so that users of the Customer Service Centre could learn who Olive Morris was. We had also submitted a detailed proposal to create a window display with pictures, information and testimonies about Olive Morris life, and made enquiries about the removal of the line “Olive Morris House” from the letterhead of correspondence being issued from the building – now reading simply: Customer Service Centre, 18 Brixton Hill.

After our letters reached the Executive Director and some local Councillors followed up on our enquiries, council officials went into a flurry of activity and the plaque and photograph were soon re-instated to the foyer of the staff entrance, and we received a letter informing us that this had happened. A couple of weeks later a window display was also installed but nor ROC neither the Morris family were informed, nor a public launch or unveiling arranged.

Plaque and photograph inside staff foyer entrance at Olive Morris House
Photo: ROC (Remembering Olive Collective)

We plan to continue our campaign to ensure that Olive Morris name is also re-instated in the letterheads of council correspondence. We would also like to see the plaque and the window display launched with a public event, and that the Council makes some effort to get the Morris family and ROC involved in the process.

You can read below the letters that were sent to Derrik Anderson that outline the history of our campaign, and the reply we received.

ROC Letter:

Derrick Anderson – Chief Executive
London Borough of Lambeth
Lambeth Town Hall
Brixton Hill, London SW2 1RW

13 February 2009

Dear Derrick Anderson

I write on behalf of the Remembering Olive Collective (ROC) in respect of the re-branding of Olive Morris House, 18 Brixton Hill as the Customer Service Centre, 18 Brixton Hill. Please see enclosed photocopies of Lambeth Council stationary, as evidence of this.

ROC was formed in October 2008 by a group of women, led by Ana Laura de la Torre – a Brixton resident and artist – out of a concern to keep the memory of Olive Morris alive in our community.

In September 2007 as part of Black History Month Ana Laura launched the Do you remember Olive Morris blog, in partnership with Lambeth Archives. Please visit www.rememberolivemorris.wordpress.com for full details of Olive Morris and the work of the Remembering Olive Collective.

From December 2007 through to May 2008 Ana Laura, and other people involved in the project, had several meetings with council officers responsible for the new Customer Service Centre in Olive Morris House, and form the Corporate Communications Team. The focus of these meetings was to ensure that Olive Morris’s memory was continued and honoured in the newly refurbished building. In addition to suggestions for the re-dedication of the building by reinstating the dedication plaque and photograph, a proposal was made to incorporate a visual display in the public area of the building, highlighting Olive’s unique contribution to Brixton’s black community during the 1970’s. Please see enclosed minutes of those meetings.

Despite the support and endorsement from Catherine Miller-Bassi (Head of Arts), the Black Cultural Archives and Gasworks (local cultural organisations of recognised status), the discussion was discontinued when the Communication Team informed us that they did not have any funds to support our proposal and that they were also concerned about a potential clash with their corporate style guidelines. This last communication was in response of a formal proposal we had been asked to submit, including visualisations and a budget. Please see enclosed our submission.

At the time of those meetings we were reassured that there were plans to reinstate Olive Morris plaque and photograph in the lobby of the staff entrance. We were disappointed to hear that the large number of Lambeth residents who visit the building daily were not going to benefit from learning that the building is named after an inspiring leader of the Black community.

To this date, we haven’t got any indication about Lambeth Council plans to rededicate the building. We are therefore requesting you to investigate on our behalf. We would like a timetable from you for the rededication of the building together with an explanation as to why Olive Morris’s name appears to have been dropped from the address of the building. See also enclosed a letter from Yana Morris (Olive’s sister), and a recent article from the South London Press, in which important community leaders (Linton Kwesi Johnson and Clarence Thompson), also express their worries about this matter.

We hope you will appreciate our concern that Lambeth Council appear to be involved in removing Olive’s name from our local history at a time when we should be honouring her activism and selfless contribution to the community, as an inspiring role model for our young people.

We would hope to be involved in the plans to rededicate the building and are actively fundraising towards the commissioning of an information display honouring Olive’s memory. We would be happy if we could meet with you to discuss our concerns and the future plans for Olive Morris House.

We would be grateful if you could respond to us before the 4th of March 2009, which is the date of ROC’s next meeting, so we have an opportunity to discuss your response with the members of our group.

Yours Sincerely,

Liz Obi
Chair Remembering Olive Collective

MORRIS FAMILY LETTER:

Derrick Anderson – Chief Executive
London Borough of Lambeth
Lambeth Town Hall
Brixton Hill, London SW2 1RW

Dear Mr Anderson

My name is Yana Morris sister to Olive Morris after whom Olive Morris House is named. I am writing on behalf of my brothers and sister, the rest of Olive’s family and her friends.

We understand that Olive Morris House recently underwent refurbishment and that the Olive Morris picture and original dedication plaque is supposed to be reinstated in the staff entrance to the building. It has also come to our attention that the public area of the building has been re-branded as Brixton Customer Service Centre, with large size signage at street level. We have also received reports that correspondence issued from the building not always carries Olive Morris House name on it, instead referring exclusively to the new Customer Service name, followed by the street address.

I am writing to enquire about Lambeth Council’s intention with regard to reinstating the plaque, photograph and maintaining the public presence of the building as Olive Morris House. We strongly believe that it will be of great importance to our community to preserve the memory of Olive Morris and her achievements in a manner and location that is informative and accessible to the general public and not just Lambeth Council employees.

We are concerned that like so many other monuments commemorating the achievements and contributions of African Caribbean people in Britain this dedication to Olive might be about to be dismantled and forgotten. We have already seen the sadly demise of Mary Seacole House and Paul Robeson House. When defending the importance of preserving the memory of Olive Morris, we would like to point out that not only was she a remarkable African Caribbean woman – but unlike Robeson and Seacole – she was also a member of the local community, who dedicated her short life to working with and for the people of Lambeth.

We believe that publicly reinstating her name and achievements will not just be a tribute to her remarkable life, but also an inspiring role model for our local youth. It would be a great disservice to Lambeth’s history as well as a travesty in today’s climate of inner city youth crime and dysfunction, should the visibility of her name and history be compromised, or reserved exclusively for Lambeth Council staff.

I would like to appeal against any plans to phase out or obscure the current name attached to the Lambeth Directorate building. We would welcome any discussion about this issue and would point you in the direction of www.rememberolivemorris.wordpress.com for information and history about Olive’s life and why this building was named after her.

I look forward to an early response to my letter and hope this matter will be settled amicably.

Yana Morris

DERRIK ANDERSON REPLY (SAME LETTER TO ROC AND MORRIS FAMILY):

Liz Obi – Chair ROC (Remembering Olive Collective)
Yana Morris

Dear Liz / Dear Yana

Thank you for your letter of 13 February 2009 regarding how we are remembering the contribution of Olive Morris to our local history.

I appreciatte the issues that you have raised and I have asked colleagues to update me on what we are doing to preserve her memory. I agree that it is important that the building does not lose its connection with Olive and her contribution to our local history.

The building will continue to be called Olive Morris House. The customer centre simply sits within the Olive Morris building. I have been reassured that the plaque is now re-instated alongside her picture. There will also be a window display and words explaining the significance of her contribution. This will also include a website address for further information, including the Remember Olive Morris site. Within the customer centre we will have a number of slides on our plasma screens again promoting the website and the significance of Olive Morris.

In terms of preserving the memory of Olive Morris more widely, Lambeth Council has also positively promoted her in many other ways in recent months. There have been two feature articles in our forthnightly resident newspaper, Lambeth Life. The most recent article on International Women’s Day features Olive Morris as a local female icon.

Again can I reassure you that there is no intention to ignore the memory and contribution of Olive Morris and I am sorry for the delay in getting the plaque re-instated and responding to your other requests.

Yours sincerely

Derrik Anderson

ROC interviewed by Ligali Radio

Remembering Olive Collective: Phone-in interview with Toyin Agbetu, Head of Social and Economic Policy, for Ligali’s Nyansapo Radio – Tuesday 10 March 2009

On Friday 6 March ROC had a stall inside Brixton Library as part of an event organised to commemorate International Women’s Day (8 March). Emma Allotey, Ana Laura and I were all there and we took it in turns to look after the stall, talk to people about Olive, and sell some of our lovely merchandise. 

Our new poster’s arresting image of Olive speaking through a megaphone amongst a crowd of people captured a man’s attention. This man was Toyin Agbetu, founder of Ligali. As he stood there in front of the poster, he wondered about this brave unsung heroin and how come he had never seen or heard of her before.

Emma did a great job of informing the intrigued Toyin about Olive and her achievements, and he was so impressed that he decided to invite her to be a guest in his next radio show and share the message with a wider audience. 

As it happens Emma could not do the interview, so she sent an email to the rest of the group asking if someone else (preferably of African descent due to Ligali’s remit – see below) could do it and I, reluctantly, put myself forward and volunteered. 

Although initially I felt I didn’t know enough about the subject  to give a good interview (having only been a member of ROC since last December), I rose up to the challenge and prepared for it by re-reading parts of the blog and other documents which ROC has recently produced. 

As part of my preparation, I also did my fair bit of research on Ligali to find out what the organisation stands for. I had heard of them before and was particularly keen on being better informed about what kind of work they do. On a more general note, it is always good practice to have some background knowledge of the organisation or medium one will be talking to.

Ligali describe themselves as a “Pan African Human Rights Organisation that challenges the misrepresentation of African people, culture and history in the British Media” (see www.ligali.org for more information), hence the importance of having a ROC member of African descent as a guest speaker in their Nyansapo radio programme. Being of dual African and Spanish heritage, I thought I would qualify. 

Whilst organising the interview, Ana Laura suggested I write a short report about it. This is something I did on the same day of the phone-in as I waited for Toyen’s call in the nerve-wrecked tranquility of my flat. What follows is a present-tense account of how I experienced my first radio interview speaking about ROC and Olive Morris.  

20 minutes before the phone-in, I find myself rushing to the computer in a desperate attempt to get my thoughts together and knock up a few bullet points to guide me through my answers (talk about last minute!). I want to sound as informed and authoritative as possible. Luckily, Toyin called me earlier in the day and ran me through the questions he might be asking me, so I know what to expect.

I feel nervous but I know I’m sufficiently prepared. There’s nothing more for me to do but wait, so I take a seat back and relax (facebook break!). A few minutes later, the phone rings. It’s Toyin. “Am I still up to do the interview?” He asks. “Yes! Of course”, I assure him. He puts me on hold and 5 minutes later the interview begins. 

The radio programme I’m participating in is dedicated to International Women’s Day and consequently the questions Toyin asks me center around the legacy of Olive Morris, as a significant black female figure, and how this is specifically relevant to the African community living in London today. 

I explain why ROC believes that it is important to embark on this collective exercise of remembering Olive and I make a conscious effort to drop key facts about Olive’s life and her achievements. I can do this confidently because I have kept my notes in front of me all throughout, so I can pick and choose quotes from them.

After only 10 minutes of questions and answers Toyin tells me our time is up. That’s all he has time for in today’s show. But, as we say our good-bye whilst he plays some music for the listeners, he expresses interest in doing a more in-depth programme solely devoted to Olive Morris in the future. 

Once I come off the phone, I sigh with relief. The interview wasn’t as nerve-wrecking as I thought it would be. Perhaps I stumbled a couple of times on my words, but overall, I felt calm and composed. Most importantly, I hope that at least one or two listeners might have felt compelled to jot the blog address down (I gave it out twice) and will later try to find out more about Olive and who she was.

An article about ROC and Olive Morris Project on f word

Tara Atluri reflects on her time with the Olive Morris project as well as her being a part of the Remembering Olive Collective.

Olive would have told me to shut up and do something

South London Press, 11 November 2008

Newspaper article about the erasure of Olive Morris memory at Olive Morris House that appeared in South London Press on 11th November 2008.

Civil rights hero Olive ‘erased from history’ by Walter Hemmens

A council has been accused of “erasing from history” the name of a woman hailed as one of Brixton’s heroes in the 1970s struggle for civil rights.
When the Lambeth council building in Brixton Hill names after Olive Morris, a member of the Brixton Black Panthers, was revamped as a “customer centre” last year, her name was removed from the part of the building used by hundreds of members of the public everyday.
A photograph of Olive and a plaque, unveiled by her mother Doris in 1986, were also taken down.
Olive’s name now appears only above and inside the staff entrance.
Veteran civil rights campaigner and poet Clarence Thompson said: “People who have dedicated their lives to changing the quality of life in Lambeth should be honoured and it should be forever.”
“You wouldn’t go interfering with Nelson’s Column would you? Why have they got to do that?”
“It sends a bad signal.”
He was speaking after a meeting of the REmembering Olive Collective (ROC), an organisation set up last year to preserve Olive’s memory.
The meeting was held at the Karibu Centre in Gresham Road and was attended by Emory Douglas and Billy X Jennings – two veterans of the US Black Panthers that inspired Olive and the Brixton Movement.
Born in Jamaica in 1952, Olive made her mark as a feminist and black activist until she died from cancer aged 27.
Only five out of 20 people spoken to by the South London Press outside Olive Morris House knew anything about her.
Liz Obi, chairwoman of the ROC, who squatted at 121 Railton Road with Olive and was in the Brixton Black Women’s Group set up by Olive, said last week: “She was a whirlwind of a person, really inspirational.
She had a lot of energy. It’s tragic she died so young, she had a lot to give to the community.”
Ms Obi said the ROC and the Morris family wanted to reinstate a display about Olive’s life in the customer centre, but had been told by the council it would not match the centre’s new “corporate image”.
Poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, who was a member of the Brixton Black Panthers with her in the 1970s said after last week’s meeting: “Its tragic really, it shouldn’t be allowed to happen.”
“She was someone who was very significant for Lambeth, and its part of the borough’s heritage.”
A council spokesman said: “We very much want to pay tribute to Olive Morris and her legacy in Lambeth, and we’re looking to reinstate a plaque near to its original location as well as looking at further options to mark her contribution.”
“The building is already named after Olive Morris, in her memory and displays her name on the outside.”
newsdesk@slp.co.uk

South London Press, 31 October 2008

News item announcing the Creation and Liberation event which appeared in the South London Press on 31st October 2008, Page 8.

Black Panthers talk in memory of Olive

Brixton: Veterans of the radical US Black Panther movement are giving a talk on Monday to commemorate their UK peer Olive Morris – the community activist who died in 1979, aged 27. Creation for Liberation: Black Panthers in Brixton includes talks by US Panthers Emory Douglas and Billy X Jennings, Brixton Panther Neil Kenlock and poet Clarence Thompson.

It is at the Karibu Education Centre, Greshan Road at 7pm, £10 on the door, £7 in advance, £5 for U18s. Email Black Cultural Archives at info@bcaheritage.org.uk or call 02075828516 for details.

Lambeth Life, 15 October 2008

News article about the newly formed Remembering Olive Collective which appeared in Lambeth Life, 15th October 2008, Page 12.

Olive Morris: a retrospective

Last year’s Black History Month saw the launch of a social history project to chronicle the life of Brixton activist Olive Morris.

One of Lambeth Council’s main buildings is named after her, but when artist Ana Laura Lopez de la Torre looked into her life she struggled to find any information. So she decided to try to find out more and used Black History Month to launch an appeal for information from the community.

She was soon put in touch with Liz Obi, one of Olive’s friends and a fellow activist during the 70s. Twelve months on and the pair have just launched the Remembering Olive Collective, which will continue to look at her life and achievements. They have been joined by members of Olive’s family and other people who knew her.

“We want to create some public memories and reinstate this woman’s position in history. In the group there are women who knew her and members of her family. What we are interested in is how we keep alive her history and preserve her achievements,” said Ana.

The group came together through a shared interest in Olive’s past and are now working together to spread that interest. Olive was an activist who was heavily involved with emerging social and political movements in the 1970s. She set up the Brixton Black Women’s Group, was a founder member of The Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent (OWAAD) and part of the squatter movement. However she died in 1979 aged just 27 and Ana and the rest of the collective are keen for her life to be more widely known.

She said: “She was a very interesting character and involved in so many different things – the black panthers, the squatter’s movement and political activism.

“There is a lot of information about from the 50s and 60s and the Windrush generation settling here, then there are the Brixton riots from the 80s. But there did not seem to be much from the 70s, which was Olive’s time. It was a very militant time, there was the Vietnamese War and an economic crisis. It has a lot of relevance for now.”

Ana added: “A lot of the men who were involved in the movement are now well known, but the women are not. So looking at Olive’s life and the input she had on so many things people, especially woman can see why some things are the way they are now.”

The next meeting of the ROC will take place on 5 November at the Lambeth Women’s Project, 166A Stockwell Road, Brixton from 6.30pm and is open to all women.

Memorial visit to Streatham Park Cemetery

To commemorate the anniversary of Olive Morris’ death, the Morris family and friends visited her burial place in Streatham Park Cemetery.

My family and myself would like to thank everyone that took time out of there busy day to attend the Olive Morris rememberance afternooon on Saturday the 12th July. Hope we can all work together to keep her memories alive.
Jennifer Morris Lewis – Olive Morris sister

Special broadcast at SOAS’ Open Air Radio

A special one-hour radio programme presenting the ongoing project Do you remember Olive Morris? was broadcast as part of the STUDENT RISE season at SOAS’s OpenAir Radio, on Friday 30th November 2007, at 2pm. The programme outlined the origins of the Olive Morris oral history project, and introduced the audience to Morris’ story. A selection of music tracks by or about inspiring women who broke through gender and race barriers – accompanied and introduced the range of areas in which Olive Morris was involved as an activist.

To listen to the show visit www.openair.org.uk, and scroll to the bottom of the page where you will find the player.

OpenAir was the official media partner of STUDENT RISE 07, a series of events at universities across London to promote the message of anti-racism and celebrate multiculturalism.

Olive Morris in USA website

A short biography of Olive Morris with a link to this blog has been published in an North American website that list extensive links and resources about Black History and Culture.

The primary aim of this website is to encourage research activity on people of African descent and to provide information to the study of the African Diaspora. A historical perspective of a nation, its people, and its cultural evolution. Please make sure to look through the 1000+ Slave Narratives on my website. Many of the colored soldiers from the Revolutionary war are true heroes so take a look at the images of them as well as the other colored soldiers throughout the 18TH 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY.

Click here to visit the site

The site is worth a visit, specially the section RARE RECORDINGS AND VIDEO.

Olive Morris in South London Press

To read the full post click on the title above

An article about Olive Morris by Jon Newman – Head of Lambeth Archives, was published on the Friday October 19th 2007 edition of South London Press. The article included a link to this blog.